Going through data too quickly

At the beginning of December we switched to Exede from Hughes net which we had for more than 12 years. Our plan there was for 20GB/mo which we almost never exceeded -- maybe 6 times in 12 years. But my husband thought the speed would be better with Exede. So we switched and signed up for the 18GB plan which we thought would be sufficient. WRONG!. We went through that in 2 weeks. So we upgraded to the 30GB plan. We went through that with 4 days left in the month. On Jan 1 we reset to 30GB and in two days we went through 6 GB mostly on video!!! We have never streamed or used on-demand. So we talked to the help desk about what was happening and started looking at the usage meters daily. And we started a test. We shut down everything, disconnected DirectTV from the internet, stopped looking at YouTube, minimized browsing, stopped synchronizing ICloud, etc. And still we are getting large blocks of usage, mostly video. Something is terribly wrong here. We are paying 70% more and getting a tiny fraction of data usage than we had before. I would drop this service in a heartbeat and go back to Hughes net. But my husband wants to give this more of a chance. This is so frustrating and it's causing tension in our house. When you change IT services, you don't expect to go backwards. I need someone high up in Exede to explain this to me.

I’m truly sorry for your unknown data loss. A few data consumption's that people are typically unaware of are: Storage, media, updates, apps, or communications. The number of wireless devices on your home network can also play a big role with data usage. Please allow us to review your account and assist with your data consumption. Send us your account and contact info to exedelistens@viasat.com

Sadly many users are unaware of the number of background processes running on their computers and other devices.
The issue is compounded if the user installs a router at the heart of their network.
There are recent issues with some routers themselves notably Cisco and Netgear.

We also have changes in some hardware driversion .. Nvidia for example are now collecting user data that is uploaded to the graphics card manufacturer.

Windows 10 now collects "telemetry" and shares that with Microsoft.
The collection of telemetry also extends to Windows 7 and 8.1 depending on which updates have been installed on those OS's.
I suggest installing the free version of Glasswire on Windows machines and purchasing a router that allows tracking of data usage per device to cover the routers internal usage as well as other connected devices.
www.glasswire.Com

A lot of times when data is draining and the usual suspects of streaming or gaming aren't involved it could be programs running in the background such as the ones listed above. Windows has been notorious for this as are app updates (often times they are minor updates like bug fixes so it could easily do that without you knowing and suck up a lot of data)

unplug the Ethernet cable for a few days and leave the modem powered on, check your useage on https://my.exede.net/dashboard with your cellphone data provider or on public wifi.. this will eliminate any customer equipment if data useage occurs after 15mins of the cable being unplugged..

Yeah. But none of that should show up as "video". You would actually have to be looking at something on your screen for that. And in our test, we have completely disconnected DirecTV from the internet, which you might think would be a background data user. We don't stream, we have shut down all the auto load video that we are aware of, and we have not used YouTube. But the real issue in my mind is that we did all of that on HughesNet without giving it a thought and we practically never ran out of data. How come it's such a big problem on Exede? When deciding to switch services, we thought we were comparing apples to apples wrt data. Apparently not.

In my case it hasn't been auto-play videos but rather pre-loaded (or pre-buffered) videos that are becoming prevalent on many major web sites - not to be confused with those that simply play automatically. Pre-loaded ones don't play but still consume data as if you were streaming.

You might want to look into how you're preferred browser handles HTML5 videos and their preload or autobuffer attributes). Each browser handles the attributes a bit differently - in my case, the key was switching to FireFox and installing the Flash Control add-on which prevents the preload behavior.

I've got several Facebook pages that I visit on a frequent basis with multiple videos embedded and once Facebook (as well as other sites) switched to HTML5 videos my usage climbed steeply until I installed the Flash Control add-on (not to be comfused with FlashBlocksince only Flash Control adequately stopped pre-loading) - suffice it to say you no longer have to play videos to have them streaming in the background with HTML5.

I stream however have taken complete control over it using FireFox and Flash Control (as well as an ad blocker) - I'm on a 10 GB plan and can't afford the luxury of some web site or even browser deciding that because I've got a fairly fast connection (only rarely am I below 12 Mbps) they should make life easier/nicer on me by pre-loading videos, other crap or bumping the resolution of a video at the expense of my data.

I can only vouch for Exede but seems that HugesNet users suffer the same limitations under different circumstances. As Gwalk suggests above we really have no idea what's consuming data anymore unless we invest in a router having robust traffic analysis or third party monitoring applications like Glasswire.

Yea even when you close all the programs running in the background still should not have a problem and what do people do when they work from home? Go somewhere else? I mean you should be able to use the internet that is what your in business for not to say customers get 10mbps or what not, to me that is false advertising!

Interestingly, my data usage has shot through the roof this past month as well. It had been running at a pretty steady rate given several variables at our house, including guests. This month - no guests , and the 2ogb plan we have was burned up in two weeks. Something screwy is going on...

We've had exede for 2 years and we had this issue at the beginning and we've never not had this issue. You can call and get that same rehearsed reasoning, but it won't improve. When I signed up, the representative completely mislead me. I was told this plan would be perfect for us for all we wanted to do. We learned VERY quickly that this was completely untrue. There's been a bad taste in my mouth with this company since then. With my contract reaching its end date, I've tried desperately to find something else. It is so unfair that we can't get unmetered internet simply because we live in rural areas. It's totally unfair. If it weren't for the 12-5 free zone, we wouldn't be able to do anything with this in the way of streaming (or anything other than simple surfing). We watch maybe 3 movies on regular time and our data is gone for the month. As a result, I've found myself staying up later simply to be able to watch my shows and get work done. Another issue is that service is constantly interrupted and my router is orange. I'll have to reset it at least once a day. I've considered the Liberty plan, but I don't really trust it, and I certainly won't do it if I have to sign a whole new contract. If the Liberty plan came with the free zone, I would maybe consider. I pray for a better option. The moment it comes, we will be canceling.

I NEVER intentionally watch videos, but now they come up "automatically" all the time when I am browsing the internet. They are using up my data in a matter of 7 to 10 days. This problem just started in the past few months. Apparently, I have to change to Firefox to solve this problem. I tried that, and the change caused other problems that I could not address; so I switched back to MS Edge.

I know something like AdBlock is helpful for some of that but largely for ads. The news sites are a pet peeve for me though. It seems nearly every article has a video! I think there's a few browser settings that can easily fix this.